Bassil Hands Sisi Letter from Aoun, Inspects Bombed Church
Foreign Minister and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Monday handed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi a letter from President Michel Aoun during a meeting at the presidential palace in Cairo.
In the letter, Aoun expresses his “keenness on continuing the efforts to strengthen bilateral ties and maintain cooperation between the two countries in order to achieve the common interests,” Lebanon's National News Agency said.
Aoun also urged “closer efforts in the face of the challenges in the region, topped by terrorism.”
And hoping that Egypt “will restore its pioneering and leading role in the region,” Aoun promised that he will visit Cairo as soon as possible in light of the official invitation that he recently received from al-Sisi.
Bassil had started his official visit to Egypt by extending condolences on behalf of Lebanon's government to Coptic Pope Tawadros II over the victims of the deadly bomb attack that rocked a church in Cairo around a week ago.
Bassil's talks with the pope tackled “the situations of Christians in the Levant and the Egyptian-Lebanese role in religious dialogue, the acceptance and protection of minorities, and openness towards others.”
Bassil later inspected the damaged church in Cairo's al-Abbasiya neighborhood.
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